Eritrean accused of trafficking migrants is captured

A photo released by Italian police shows officers escorting Medhanie Yehdego Mered, 35, upon his extradition from Sudan.

Photo: Polizia di Stato / Getty Images

ROME — An Eritrean man accused of organizing an extensive people-smuggling network that led to the deaths of hundreds of Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea has been captured in Sudan and extradited to Italy, authorities said Wednesday.

Italian authorities said Medhanie Yehdego Mered, 35. was seized in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on May 24 and flown to Rome late Tuesday.

The arrest, which followed an investigation that involved Sudanese, Italian and British authorities, was a rare instance in which a person has faced direct criminal charges for the human trafficking that has made the Mediterranean one of the world’s deadliest migration routes.

Officials said the smuggling ring was responsible for the deaths of 359 people when a vessel capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2013.

Authorities said Mered styled himself as “The General” — a reference to the reach of his criminal network — and that he had been heard on intercepted telephone calls joking callously about the deaths of the victims, who were fleeing violence and desperation.

Italian prosecutors said Mered will be charged with leading a transnational criminal conspiracy, human trafficking, illegal banking activities and abetting illegal immigration. He faces up to 30 years in prison.